Friday’s bloodbath for the tech and semiconductor stocks might have left a scar on the AI trade, but it might not take all too long for the wounds to heal, especially after an upbeat Monday session that saw semiconductors lead the comeback. Undoubtedly, investors are going to need to make room in their portfolios for Elon Musk’s SpaceX (SPCX), which will go live to cap off the week.
Whether that entails more profit-taking in the most heated parts of the market, though, remains the $1.77 trillion question. It might be just as hard to bet against the AI trade as it was to bet on it, especially if the latest slip leads to yet another V-shaped recovery.
The Friday fall in semis was certainly scary as the rate jitters weighed
In any case, strong stomachs are needed to be a net buyer of the latest dip. If you panicked on Friday, though, perhaps the latest test of investor nerves is a sign that it might be time to lighten up on the momentum and parabolic surges (think the semiconductor names within the so-called Parabolic Seven) while picking up some of the merchandise that’s been unfairly sold off.
I’d be in no rush to buy the semi stocks on the way down, even though that Friday sell-off was a bit excessive, with some of the hottest semi stocks plunging well north of 10% in a single day. Can more such 10% single-day drops happen if the panic returns?
Quite possibly. It’s quite convenient to view the SpaceX IPO as something that sparks a sell-off. The cash to buy shares has to come from somewhere, right? In my view, there’s already quite a bit of cash sitting on the sidelines of the average investor’s portfolio.
When you consider the profit-taking in tech we witnessed during Friday’s trading session following a surprisingly strong jobs report, perhaps SpaceX might not cause the kind of meltdown that some of the bears are expecting.
The SpaceX IPO is huge, but I’m not lining up for shares
Is the SpaceX IPO a massive liquidity event that could pave the way for one of the most active summers in years? Sure, but I’m not so sure that we’ll see any sort of massive mechanical liquidity shock to the system at the hands of an IPO, even if the closing day market cap comes in a bit hotter than expected. If there is another day like Friday, though, where tech nosedives close to 4% in a single day, I’d view it as an opportunity to top up in stocks whose name isn’t SpaceX.
While I do believe that SpaceX brings a ton of unique exposure (the space economy could prove profoundly lucrative) to the table that the average investor should seek out, I just can’t get behind a $1.77 trillion or so valuation.
If there’s an opportunity later on to snag shares that imply a valuation of south of $1.25 trillion, then sure, I’d be very interested. But, for now, there’s too much demand for a piece, and I’m just not sure how many of the early buyers are going to be sticking around for the long haul.
Apple stock might be the big steal if markets sink further
As for what I’d lean toward, I think it’s hard to overlook Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) as shares come in while WWDC 2026 unfolds and a pretty predictable sell-the-news kind of scenario unfolds. With Siri AI looking to help propel Apple’s ecosystem into the advanced age of intelligence, I’m inclined to view Apple as the personalized AI play and an invisible AI winner when you consider the innovation that’s happening behind the scenes of our favorite devices.
At the end of the day, Apple’s getting a Gemini jolt. And, what’s more, it’s also putting its own AI smarts to good use as it shows off its context moat, perhaps one of the most underrated moats in hyper-personalized consumer AI.
With privacy, trust, distribution, and the hardware that makes the software run exceptionally well (and efficiently), I think any dips in Apple, either WWDC-related or SpaceX-related, could prove a terrific buying opportunity for a name that’s only starting to be appreciated for its AI potential.
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